New Jersey To Tighten Water Use Regulatio
New Jersey state officials announced today the first in a series of enforcement alerts to all of the state’s regulated water users, who will now be subject to increased state inspections and stricter enforcement of water allocation permits.
The stricter measures are part of a statewide effort to help reduce the frequency and severity of the state’s future drought emergencies, according to New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Bradley Campbell.
New Jersey was under a drought emergency from March 2002 to January 2003. The drought declaration in March 2002 came on the heels of the state’s driest six month period since 1895.
“We can no longer address drought emergencies on a crisis-to-crisis basis, but must proactively conserve and protect our water supplies for the future,” Campbell said. “This alert was issued to warn the regulated community of stepped up inspections and enforcement, providing them advance notice to improve compliance with water supply laws and possibly eliminate our need to take corrective action.”
There are some 750 water allocation permit holders in the state.
These water allocation permits authorize the use of ground and surface water for public drinking water supplies, industrial processing and cooling, golf courses, irrigation, sand and gravel operations, remediation activities, and power generation.
The state promised increased inspections as well as Notice of Violation (NOV) to all permit holders who fail to submit quarterly monitoring reports or exceed their water withdrawal limits.
Campbell explained that today’s enforcement alert issued is the first released under a new, comprehensive advisory system created by the DEP’s Compliance and Enforcement Program to improve outreach to the regulated community.
Provided by theEnvironmental News Service.